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On Saturday night at Fabric nightclub in Farringdon, central London, Jack, a magazine editor from Bristol, used the last of his mephedrone supplies. He had bought his packet over the internet, and was making the most of the “amnesty” weekend.

“There’s not much point in making it illegal,” he said. “The websites that sell me my M-Cat will just be designing new mixtures of chemicals that will do the same thing.”

In the meantime he said that he would not be put off taking the drug, even though prices will rise.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s not as strong as MDMA, and it’s not like mushrooms. They used to be legal and they really fuck you up.”

Two other clubbers who had not taken the drug said that they would be willing to try. One, 34, a graphic designer, said that criminalising the drug had encouraged him to give it a go.

“It’s just going to make people want it more. If you start to legalise it, people will realise it actually works.

“Legal drugs, you think they’re just herbal stuff,” said his companion. “This just shows everybody that it actually does something.”

He said that he would be cautious now the trade was driven underground. “I’d be a bit concerned if I bought it now that it would just be cut with something,” he said.

A student visiting from the US said that he was against the ban. “They haven’t got enough evidence it’s actually dangerous. All the deaths are linked to other things. All that criminalisation is going to do is to channel the money underground into the wrong pockets.